St John's - Lincoln
St John's Asylum, Lincolnshire in the East of England was built 1852. The building was then known as Lindsey & Holland Counties & Lincoln & District Lunatic Asylum. The Asylum has also been known over the years as Lincolnshire County Pauper Lunatic Asylum and Bracebridge Heath Asylum. Finally it was given the name St John's during the early 1960's
It was originally built to house just 250 patients but by 1902 the asylum grounds covered 120 acres. The grounds of the asylum were cultivated by the inmates where they grew their own vegetables. Within the grounds was a cemetery for the hospital which covered 1.5 acres. St John's also had its own mortuary chapel.
After the outbreak of World War II during 1940, the patients were transferred to other nearby establishments as the hospital was turned into an emergency hospital.
In 1948 the administration of the hospital was passed to the National Health Service.
The asylum finally closed its doors during December 1989 with all the patients being transferred to other nearby hospitals.
The site was then sold to developers who have converted a lot of the site into new housing.
All that now remains is the main asylum buildings which are Grade II listed and cannot be demolished. However work is now under way to convert the main buildings into flats.
